The First Feather
by NeonDomino
Summary: Soulmate!AU and WingFic - When you first touch your soulmate, you grow wings. You gain a feather for each happy moment. Sirius meets his soulmate at their sorting. May have more chapters.


Romance Awareness - Once you meet your soulmate, you grow wings like an angel. You gain one new feather each time something special happens between you two.

Auction: WingFic - 2159 words

Writing Club:

Character Appreciation - Gryffindor

Disney - Prompt Set: Umbrella, Cheerful, Efficient

Showtime - (colour) gold

Amber's Attic - Tattoos - Write about a transformation

Count Your Buttons - Word: Accident, Dialogue: "You don't get it, okay?"

Lyric Alley - For we are glorious

Em's Emporium - (6) - Set a story at Hogwarts

Film Festival - (word) brilliant, (action) knocking someone over

* * *

The First Feather

Sirius/Remus soulmate AU

* * *

Sirius was right at the front of the line as they approached the boats with Hagrid. Others dragged their feet or were reluctant to leave the warmth of the train, but Sirius was too eager to rush off the train and get to see the legendary castle from the boats. His cousins had told him the stories when they had come back from Hogwarts in their first years, and now it was his turn. To see the castle and then return home and tell Regulus.

Thankfully Snivellus didn't join his boat. Instead, it was James Potter who clambered in next to him with a boy who introduced himself as Peter. The fourth person in the boat was a bubbly girl called Alice who seemed to share his excitement. He glanced around, eager to get going but Hagrid was still directing other students with his umbrella and Sirius let out a groan, wanting to get to the castle already.

She purposely held out her hand to each of them in turn, and they all shook it with baited breath. Nothing happened. No wings emerged, and they all shared smiles before looking for the castle as the small boats began to move across the water. Sirius was secretly glad. He wasn't sure why, but the idea of being stuck with a girl soulmate didn't sound fun.

(He had already touched James' hand on the train. It was a shame nothing had happened.)

...oOo...

"Gryffindor," the hat shouted. Sirius grinned in delight, stepping down and heading towards the table. They were clapping with uncertainty, whilst Sirius' relatives stared at him from the other table, their hands still all except Andromeda who was clapping along with everyone else.

Too busy watching them, he didn't notice as Snape stuck his foot out, causing Sirius to trip. He stumbled forward into James and another couple of boys, his arms reaching out to grab something to hold himself up.

As he hit the floor, he was aware of a shooting pain through his back and shoulders. He heard shouts and arms grabbed him, yanking him back up. "Sirius, are you okay?" James asked.

Sirius quickly realise the commotion as white wings folded in front of him, enveloping him and forcibly knocking James away from him. He pushed them away, looking around desperately. If he had wings, someone else had wings too and he needed to see who that someone was.

His gaze fell on a nearby boy who was desperately trying to control his wings and looked like he was about to bolt from the room. Sirius stepped towards him to say something, but before he could, the Head Boy approached.

"Later, after the sorting," the Ravenclaw insisted. "Come on, I'll bring you to your table."

The wings straightened out again and the Head Boy dodged them, putting his hand on Sirius' shoulder, trying to avoid touching the wings. "I'm Kingsley."

"Sirius," Sirius replied, trying to look over his shoulder, but the wings blocked his view. "If I could just…"

"I'll make sure you have a minute after the feast," Kingsley assured him. "This isn't the first time this has happened." He pulled Sirius forward, his hand moving to Sirius' arm.

Sirius nodded. People were staring at him and he didn't like it. He wanted to share his wings with just the other boy. They weren't for anyone else. He was glad that Kingsley was doing a good job not touching them.

A blanket was draped over his shoulders and the wings quickly withdrew as though they knew Sirius wanted to hide them. He looked around again, ignoring Kingsley's grip on his arm. "Does he have a blanket too?"

Kingsley glanced back. "Andromeda gave him one," he assured Sirius. "If you take your seat, you'll be able to see what's going on and see where he's sorted. This is holding things up, so let's get you over to your table."

Sirius allowed himself to be led to the Gryffindor table. He took his seat and turned his attention back to the sorting, searching for his soulmate but from his seat, he couldn't see him.

...oOo...

"Trust you to cause drama at your sorting. First Gryffindor, secondly your wings."

Sirius nodded, his eyes searching. "Where is he?" he demanded.

"Didn't you see? One of the Professors took him out for a moment to calm him down. He looked like he was having a panic attack. He'll be sorted last I think."

Sirius sighed, slumping down in his seat. "It's my job to calm him down," he muttered, unhappy that his soulmate needed him and he wasn't there. He went to stand up, but James pulled him back into his seat.

"Stop," he insisted. "He'll be out when it's his turn to be sorted. If you get up, you'll hold things up even more and you'll have to wait longer to see him!"

It made sense. Sirius gave up, choosing to remain in his seat. "He needs me," he insisted weakly.

"And you can see him later. Let's talk about your wings though - they're white!" James exclaimed, reaching out as though he wanted to pull the blanket away, before withdrawing his hand.

"Yeah?" Sirius perked up. He hadn't paid attention to that, more focused on his soulmate than his actual wings. "Did you see my first feather?"

"Your family are known for black wings," James murmured. "But yours are white."

Sirius shrugged. "They're known for black wings, but I haven't seen my parents' wings or many relatives. We do arranged marriages so wings are kept hidden or wings don't usually… there he is!" Sirius looked up at the sorting hat where his soulmate was taking a seat on the stool, blanket draped over his shoulders and hiding his wings. Sirius was desperate to see them.

"Gryffindor!" the hat announced.

"Yes!" Sirius lifted his hand to high-five James. "This is perfect. We get to live together already." He clapped harder than everyone else.

"Mate… you're sharing a dorm, not really living together," James tried, but Sirius ignored him, staring at his soulmate as he approached the table, eyes scanning the bench for somewhere to sit.

Sirius shoved Peter up the bench. "Here. Sit with me!" He patted the bench, grinning widely at his soulmate. "I'm Sirius Black."

"Remus Lupin," Remus murmured softly, hesitantly taking the offered seat before reaching up to fix the blanket. "Is it… are they covered?"

Sirius reached over, helping adjust the blanket to cover Remus' shoulders. "There you go," he said.

"Thank you." Remus could barely meet his gaze, choosing the stare at the table instead.

Sirius quickly realised he was shy. That was fine, they had years for Remus to get over his shyness. He kept staring until Remus glanced at him, holding his gaze for a second before looking away again.

Remus was perfect!

...oOo...

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, dropping down in the seat next to Remus' as Remus carefully tried to sew his robes.

Remus didn't reply, though he stiffened slightly.

"Can't you just buy more?" Sirius asked, glancing at the robes for a moment.

Remus looked up at the comment. "No," he replied shortly, setting the robes aside. "You don't get it, okay. I need to fix this." He stood up and walked away, leaving the sewing on the table, clearly upset over the ripped robe.

The bathroom shut after Remus walked in and James went over to Sirius. "He's not rich," he hissed. "He probably only has that set of robes and since they look new, it probably set his parents back. He might not want to tell them he ruined them straight away."

"How do you know? Besides, it was an accident that I—"

"I know. I saw Snivellous trip you and we'll get back at him later. But for now, your soulmate is upset. Besides, I saw Remus unpacking his school books. They're not new - the cover was falling off one of them. I think it was held in place with tape or something."

"Oh." Sirius hadn't considered it. He began working out how much money he had because of course what was his was now also his soulmates. "How can I help him? Can I give him money for new—"

"Only if you want to upset him," James murmured, before his lips curved up into a smile. "Let's go and find the library."

Sirius frowned. "Sounds boring. Why?" He looked at the cloak. "Remus needs me here. I need to help him and then I need to check my wings for my first feather."

"Because there are magical ways to fix the cloak," James replied. "Imagine how impressed he would be if you could get a spell."

Sirius jumped up, needing no further convincing. "Let's go!"

"Wait." James rushed over to his trunk and pulled something out. "I hoped that I'd get a chance to use this straight away," he said, pulling it over himself.

Sirius smiled. "You're a good friend. I've only known you for a few hours, but… yeah. You're alright, Potter."

...oOo...

Remus fell asleep as he tried to fix his robes that night. When he woke up, he was in bed and there was only a faint line where the seams had been magically reattached.

Next to the robes was a sheet with the spell copied out. The spell seemed efficient considering Sirius probably hadn't cast the spell before. Remus smiled. Maybe his soulmate wasn't so bad after all. He was helpful and thoughtful. Behind him, one of the white feathers turned brown with an orange edge.

Brown for thoughtfulness and orange for helpfulness.

It looked quite pretty next to the pink one that had appeared first. The first feather which some people believed foretold how the relationship would progress throughout the duration. Remus had a book his mother had packed which talked about first feathers, though he had insisted he wouldn't need the book because he wouldn't find a soulmate.

How wrong he had been. The pink feather with a lighter tip and patch of lighter pink told of a match that was unconditional love and acceptance, friendship, romance and understanding.

Acceptance. The one thing that a soulmate would need to ever want to be with him.

After class, Sirius returned to his room to find a little chocolate sitting on his pillow. He glanced around, his gaze falling on Remus who was eating the same chocolates.

Sirius smiled at his soulmate. It was going to be some work considering they were eleven and he didn't really know much about relationships or anything, but it was a promising start.

He felt a tingle in his wing as a feather began to change colours, and quickly headed to the bathroom to take a look. Once in, he allowed his wings to expand and he glanced towards the left, looking for the one that had changed.

A beautiful golden feather sat at the very tip of his wing and Sirius stared at it in amazement. Golden feathers were rare and he had gotten one within 24 hours.

A gold feather showed the purity of the love they would have for each other. It also meant that they both accepted the soulmate bond.

Sirius smiled softly at the feather for a long time. His parents weren't going to like any of this - him having a soulmate that had a Muggle parent, him having a male soulmate, having white wings, being a Gryffindor… there was so much to upset them.

But Sirius found he didn't care. That feather proved to him that whatever he'd face from his family would be worth it - that Remus was worth it. After all, there was nothing better than a golden feather.

He pulled his t-shirt back on and opened the door. A moment later, Remus opened the curtains that framed his bed, which Sirius guessed he closed when Sirius went to the bathroom.

"It's brilliant, isn't it?" he asked.

Remus nodded. "Gold."

"Gold, pink, orange and brown. We're going to have wings that shine brighter than the rainbow."

Remus couldn't help but smile. "That sounds nice," he admitted.

"Blue, red—"

"Red means… let's wait awhile for red feathers," Remus added.

"Whatever you want," Sirius murmured. "We have all of the time in the world. Plus, we're only eleven. Red can wait."

"Well, pink means love and acceptance and friendship. Maybe we can start with the friendship side and work our way up?" Remus suggested, his cheeks reddening under Sirius' watch.

Sirius nodded. "I like that plan. It's perfect, like you."

Silently Remus reached out his hand, offering Sirius another chocolate, and Sirius took it. Remus clearly liked chocolate and Sirius knew the best place to buy chocolates from. It was in France, but if Remus liked them, then that's all that mattered.

Remus' lips curved into a smile and Sirius couldn't help but return it. Yes, Remus was definitely worth whatever would come his way from his family.


End file.
